430 STERNINJE. 



Sterna albigena, Licht. 



9$7bis. Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 324 ; Butler, 



Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 440. 



THE WHITE-CHEEKED TERN. 



Length, 12'5 to 14'5 ; expanse, 29'5 ; wing, 9 '8 ; tail, 4 to 6'5 ; 

 tarsus, 075 ; bill from gape, 215. 



Bill blackish, tipped whitish-horny ; irides brown ; legs and feet 

 Indian-red, tinged dusky. 



The lores and point of the forehead white, the latter with a 

 few black speckles ; a patch in front of the eye black, speckled 

 with white ; the anterior half of the crown white, tinged earthy 

 or brownish-grey, and with spots and blotches of brownish-black ; 

 feathers immediately above the eye, all the feathers behind it, 

 the sides of the head, occiput and nape, black ; the posterior half 

 of the crown blackish-brown, a little mingled with greyish- white ; 

 an imperfect white band from the lores beneath the eyes, with 

 another imperfect black one below it ; the back of the neck is 

 whitish, the feathers suffused with grey towards the tips ; the 

 whole of the back, scapulars, wings and tail, a moderately dark 

 French -grey, darker than in S. bengalensis, but not so dark as in 

 some specimens of bergii ; the upper tail-coverts slightly paler ; the 

 wings more silvery, but the outer web of the first primary and of 

 the exterior elongated tail-feathers much darker ; the inner webs 

 of the primaries darker ; the first primary with a considerable 

 portion of the inner web white to the margin ; the other primaries 

 also with white on their inner web, but with a grey band on their 

 margin ; the second and third tail feathers also a rather darker 

 grey on their outer webs towards the points ; the rest of tail 

 feathers, inner and outer webs, pretty well concolorous with the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts ; the chin, throat, and sides of neck, 

 almost pure white, with only a few faint dusky grey patches ; the 

 breast and abdomen a dusky bluish-grey, with many large patches 

 of white ; the lower tail-coverts greyish-white ; the wing-lining 

 white. 



In breeding plumage, according to Heuglin, the upper surface is 

 a full bluish-grey ; the front and sides of the neck, breast and r 

 abdomen, a somewhat paler and more purplish-grey ; the entire 

 upper surface of the head and nape intensely black ; the chin 

 and upper part of the throat, the lores, and an oblique band 

 below the eyes, conspicuously snowy-white ; the beak coral-red, 

 blackish towards the base of the culmen and tip ; the feet bright 

 coral-red. 



The White-cheeked Tern occurs along the Sind and Mekran 

 coasts, and is not uncommon in the Kurrachee Harbour. 



Sterna saundersi, Hume. 



988er. Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 325 ; Butler, 

 Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 441. 



.rx. 



